A crowd of women and girls filled Bethlehem's Payrow Plaza on Saturday to mark the anniversary of last year's Women's March.

The Owning Our Power rally was organized by FIERCE: Lehigh Valley and NextGen America, and coincided with marches and rallies across the country ahead of the Women's March in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Supporters wore the iconic pink hats, as well as black, in solidarity with the #TimesUp legal defense fund, and carried signs and placards. The defense fund subsidizes legal support for people who have experienced sexual harassment or related retaliation at work.

Lizzie Morasco, an organizer with NextGen America, said Bethlehem's empowerment rally was just one of a series of events to keep people engaged. Other events include letter-writing campaigns, protests and watch parties.

"We are hoping to empower women by supporting women, by holding each other up, rather than in-fighting or being negative, because positivity always does more than negativity," she said.

Morasco said Lehigh Valley is often overshadowed by events in New York City, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., but she wanted to create a local opportunity to recognize the anniversary of the first Women's March. She stressed that the event was nonpartisan and focused on issues that she hopes everyone can relate to: mental health treatment, sexual assault, racism and LGBT issues.

"Everything we're fighting for is for a better future for everyone," Moraso said.

The event included poetry readings and speakers, including a woman who shared her story of sexual assault as her five-year-old daughter cheered her on.

Dr. Paige Van Wirt, who ran a write-in campaign for Bethlehem city council and plans to apply for the current council vacancy, carried a sign that said, "Grab this: The women are coming."

Van Wirt said she came to the rally because "there's limited opportunities for (women) to speak together as a whole."

Betty Jo McDonald, from Emmaus, wore a hat and a sign that read "Strong women: Know them, raise them, be them." She said she was concerned about inequality for women and what she considers discriminatory remarks by the president, especially because she has two teenage daughters.

"I'm really afraid for them going forward in this country if this kind of rhetoric continues," McDonald said.

Sharon Brown, the former director of institutional diversity at Moravian College, said she has always been a fierce advocate for women, particularly women of color. When it comes to social justice education, she said, "I write about it, I speak about it, and that's why I'm here today."

But Brown added she was at the plaza "to also make a statement, that here in the Lehigh Valley there are women of color who are engaged and involved, and who do believe in women's issues ... I believe this is an area where women organizations here in the Lehigh Valley, we need to get together and become an inclusive organization."

John Paul Marosy, also from Bethlehem, carried a sign that said "Another man against violence against women."